


Photographs and tea

by nihonhistory



Series: Aced it [4]
Category: Merlin (TV), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, Asexuality Spectrum, Established Relationship, F/F, Friendship, M/M, Multi, Pansexual Character, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 14:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihonhistory/pseuds/nihonhistory
Summary: Merlin spends an afternoon with a friend from the ace group





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story is mostly an afternoon of friends hanging out and talking about their lives, so most of the characters in the tags are only mentioned and don’t really appear (maybe they will in future parts, who knows). I wanted to write a poly relationship with one of the characters being ace and talk about the possibilities and issues that are connected to it, at least from my point of view. And since I like the Rick Riordan novels a lot I thought I make it a crossover instead of making someone from my other poly pairing ace spec. So not much happens in this one plot-wise but I hope you’ll enjoy it nonetheless. Feedback is always appreciated. It’s not betaed, so all the mistakes are my own.
> 
> As an added warning: there is some short talk about harassment/unwanted attention from men, not in great detail or anything but I wanted to mention it just in case

Of all the people at the ace meet-up group Merlin developed the closest friendship with Anna. So one rainy autumny Saturday afternoon he went over to her place for a nice cup of tea.

“Hi sweety” Anna kissed him on the cheek “Where did you leave Arthur? I thought you would come together?” – “His father called him into work last minute, something for the upcoming exhibition.” Merlin couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “He might come around later, depending how long it takes.”

Anna pulled a face “It must be really annoying to work for once dad…I mean I love mine, but it would drive me crazy working for him…” Merlin laughed “Tell me about it. Well, not the dad thing – never knew mine – but I can’t even imagine having a father like Uther Pendragon and working for him. It’s hard enough when you’re just his employee.”

They moved along into the small kitchen and Anna prepared their tea while they kept chatting about what happened to each of them since they last met. When the tea was ready they moved to the cozy living room – poster-room for a student flat with its cluster of miss-matching furniture, book shelves on most walls and artsy posters of famous architecture where there were no book shelves. Books, journals, pieces of paper and pencils were laying around in random places and empty tea cups doubled as paper weights. Merlin loved this room; it felt lived in and well loved.

Today most of the coffee table was taken up by hundreds of pictures. Merlin picked one of Anna and her girlfriend Piper up and studied it more closely.

“That’s a great pic, you two look really happy.” – “It is, isn’t it? We took it during a trip to Long Island last summer. I want to make a photo collage, that’s why I made this mess” she laughed and pushed a few of them together so she could place her mug on the table.

“Is that you??” Merlin pulled out a picture of a young girl that proudly presented her high school diploma to the camera, long blond hair, crop-top, and high heels. She had very little resemblance to the Anna he knew: short brownish-black hair with colorful highlights that were green one week and pink the next, usually dressed in men’s shirts and skinny jeans, or sometimes a simple black dress with a flannel shirt.

“Ah, yes, that’s my alter-ego Annabeth. These days only my father and his wife still call me that. ‘Anna’ is much easier; you don’t believe how often I’ve been called Annabel or something like that. So I started to go with the shortened version.”

“Wow, if it weren’t for the eyes I probably wouldn’t have recognized you. I guess the new hair style is partly thanks to Piper?” – “Yeah, we met at GaySoc in College and when I came to better terms with my sexuality and felt like this overly feminine style wasn’t me anymore she took me to the hair saloon where she had her day job and helped my find a haircut that fit this new version of me. Took a few tries but we got there.” She smiled thinking back to those days. “We weren’t even together than, but we figured that out too.”

Anna took a sip of her tea “And you know what’s one of the best things about this Anna-style?” Merlin shrugged and threw her a questioning look “Sooo much less unwanted attention from men!! Sure, there is still the occasional cat-calling, especially when we are out as a couple, but I get a lot less hit on by men than before. Sometimes girls try to chat me up, but they are usually pretty chill when I tell them I’m not interested, most of the times I don’t even need to bring up that I have a girlfriend.”

“That’s nice for you, but pretty depressing in general…like that you have to change your appearance to escape harassment or that men often have such a hard time taking no for an answer…it’s seriously fucked up.” Anna nodded thoughtfully. “Personally I’m okay with the result, since I didn’t change my looks because of this. It’s like an added bonus. But yes, it’s messed up…”

They looked through some more of the pictures, remembering the amazing weekend they had at pride a few months back or the barbeque at the housewarming party Merlin and Arthur had last month. Anna told more stories from her childhood and College.

“Who’s that guy?” Merlin asked pointing at a picture of Anna, Piper and a blond guy about their age at the ice skating area at the Rockefeller Centre.

“Oh, that’s Jason Grace, he’s Pipers boyfriend.” Merlin shot her a questioning look. “Care to elaborate?”

“Well, it’s a poly arrangement. Simplified you could say he’s her fuck buddy, but that doesn’t really cut it. He’s doing his post-doc in law and we met him about three years back, he was working at our favorite diner. Turned out he was the brother of a girl we knew from GaySoc, Thalia, she’s aroace. And they both are like second cousins twice removed or something from my ex-boyfriend from high school. The world can be a really small place…anyway, as you know Pips is pan. We always have had an open relationship in terms of sex. As long as she tells me whom she’s sleeping with and comes back to me in the end I don’t mind, it takes pressure of the both of us. So it started out as a sort of friends-with-benefits thing, but sometimes the three of us would hang out together and after a couple of months Piper told me that she had started feeling romantically attracted to Jason as well as sexually. I was a bit angry and insecure about it at first, but we all sat down together and talked about it and in the end we figured out an arrangement. Now Piper is both our girlfriend, but she lives with me and we spend most of the time together. Jason usually is busy studying and working anyway. But sometimes he comes over – not for sex though – or she goes to his, sometimes for a couple of days when he’s free. Every once in a while the three of us watch a movie, have dinner, take a trip or what not, bonding time. He became a good friend to me as well, but not a boyfriend. It works for the time being and we’re all happy at the moment.”

“That sounds nice. And I’m happy if it works so well for all of you. Before I met Arthur I often thought about the possibilities of a poly relationship, since – as you said – it might take pressure of me. But in the end I was never brave enough to try it. I was scared I’d be jealous and that it would make me feel even more insecure about the things I couldn’t give a partner.”

“Yeah, been there, thought that…and it’s not always easy. I think it wouldn’t work with just anybody. But luckily it works with Jason.” Anna shrugged and drained her remaining tea. “Do you want another one?” She asked raising her cup and eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“No thanks, it’s getting late and I don’t think Arthur will still come. I think I’ll better head home and get started on some dinner, he’ll need it after a Saturday with his father.” – “Sure, make sure to bring him next time. It’s not good for him to work that hard.”

Merlin laughed “I keep telling him, but he won’t listen.”

They headed into the hallway and Merlin put on his coat, scarf and beanie. “We’ll be in touch; I want to see you collage when it’s done.” He said while hugging Anna good bye. “And maybe we can meet Jason sometime.” He added with a wink. Anna just rolled her eyes, shoved him out the door and called after him “Oh shut it, go home and cook your dinner!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.  
> I'll try to do something christmasy during the next weeks which features Merlin and Arthur as an actual couple again.


End file.
